PRE -BREEDING AND PGR IN THE NORDIC REGION , A LNARP , 8TH OF MARCH 2016
Pre-breeding and plant genetic resources in the Nordic region
Group discussions
Aims
NordGen has developed a 20-year strategy with the aim to discuss and decide on the focus for
NordGen in the coming years. The discussions should give working group members, board
members, Nordic PPP (Public Private Partnership for pre-breeding) members and Nordic
National Programs an opportunity to give input on the future activities and priorities of NordGen.
The 20-year strategy will, after the meeting, be updated with the outcome from the discussions.
NordGen´s board will thereafter have a final discussion and approve the document, which will
serve as NordGen´s “strategy document” for the coming years.
The discussion points are divided into four sections
1. Main goals and tasks
2. The PGR collection at NordGen
3. Utilization of the PGR conserved at NordGen
4. NordGen and the National Programs and Working Groups
Approach
Attendees have been divided into six groups and each group has an assigned chair and a NordGen
secretary.
· Group Lolium, chair Carina Knorpp, secretary Anna Palmé
· Group Pisum, chair Petter Marum, secretary Ulrika Carlsson-Nilsson
· Group Beta, chair Ahmed Jahoor, secretary Jette Nydam Hansen
· Group Daucus, chair Áslaug Helgadottir, secretary Anette Hägnefelt
· Group Solanum, chair Jens Weibull, secretary Pawel Chrominski
· Group Hordeum, chair Marja Jalli, secretary Jan Svensson
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All groups are provided with a USB stick with a template for reporting. Please fill in your
answers here and hand this in after the discussion session. This information will be summarised
in a report from the meeting and also used as input for the final version of the 20-year strategy.
Division of discussion topics
Questions has been prepared for the four different sections, see table below. All groups will
discuss “main goals and priorities” but in order to ensure that all discussion sections are
addressed, the other three sections will each be discussed by two groups. Groups that have
finished with their discussion points can continue with the other sections if time allows.
Group
Lolium
Pisum
Beta
Daucus
Solanum
Hordeum
(1) main goals
and priorities
(2) the PGR
collection at
NordGen
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
(3) utilization of PGR
conserved at
NordGen
(4) NordGen and
the National
Programs and
Working Groups
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
YES
YES
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
(if time allows)
YES
YES
Schedule for dissemination of discussion results
The chairs for each group will be seated as for a panel debate.
Time
Question
Group
presenting
Name of presenter
Comments by
All
Jan Svensson
All groups
17:00 - 17.20
1. Main goals and
tasks
17.20 - 17.30
2. The PGR collection
at NordGen
Lolium group
Carina Knorpp
Pisum group
17.30 - 17.40
3. Utilization of PGR
conserved at NordGen
Beta group
Ahmed Jahoor
Daucus group
17.40 - 17.50
4. NordGen and the
National Programs and
Working Groups
Solanum group
Jens Weibull
Hordeum group
17.50 - 18.00
Summing-up, Roland von Bothmer
Before dissemination of 1A and 1B, NordGen staff will collect information from all groups and
prepare a summary table with the response of each group.
GROUPS
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Lolium (Crafoordsalen)
Carina Knorpp
Anna Palmé
Erik Lawaetz
Gert Poulsen
Hilde Nybom
Ingolfur Gudnason (only WG meeting)
Ingunn M. Vågen
Irene Hellvik
Johan Axelsson
Karolina Aloisi
Rolf Stegmark (16.00)
Pisum (Trollhasseln)
Petter Marum
Ulrika Carlson-Nilsson
Linda Öhlund
Magne Gullord
Magnus Göransson
Matti Leino
Mohammad El-Khalifeh
Per Anker Pedersen (only WG meeting)
Sirkka Juhanoja
Terhi Suojala-Ahlfors
Birte Boelt
Beta (Seminarie rum)
Ahmed Jahoor
Jette Nydam Hansen
Agnese Kolodinska (16.00)
Anders Nilsson
Anders S. Larsen
Georg Carlsson
Guðni Þorvaldsson
Inger Åhman
Jannie Hagman
Kim Holm Boesen
Kirsten Jørgensen
Daucus (Café outside Crafoordsalen)
Áslaug Helgadóttir
Anette Hägnefelt
Linnea Oskarsson (only WG meeting)
Mati Koppel
Pertti Pärssinen
Rodomiro Ortiz
Samson Bjarnar Harðarson
Thoroddur Sveinsson
Tina Henriksson
Torben Asp
Tuula Pehu
Solanum (Tulpanen)
Jens Weibull
Pawel Chrominski
Jaana Laamanen
Kjell-Åke Lundblad
Külli Annamaa
Lars Reitan
Marja Savonmäki
Merja Veteläinen (to lunch)
Mervi Seppänen
Morten Rasmussen
Torben Bo Toldam-Andersen
Hordeum (AM) NordGen / (PM) Magnolian
Marja Jalli
Jan Svensson
Åsmund Asdal
Birgitte Lund
Bronislovas Gelvonauskis
Dainis Rungis
Elina Kiviharju
Eva Jansson (after lunch)
Eva Thörn
Geir Dalholt
Hjörtur Þorbjörnsson
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1) M AIN GOALS AND TASKS
NordGen has a limited budget and infrastructure and it is clear that the obligations and
expectations of NordGen Plants do not match this framework. It is good to have a high ambition
but it is also crucial to make sure that NordGen can take full responsibility of accepted tasks and
perform high quality work. To be able to do this we need to prioritise among goals and tasks.
Please go through the following questions and also try to motivate your choices.
Question 1A (goals)
The goals of NordGen are listed below and in the 20-year strategy document, pages 4-5.
i.
ii.
iii.
In your opinion, which three goals are the most important, under the current
circumstances (a-n)
Which are the three least important goals (a-n)?
Please add comments and/or motivations of the prioritisations wherever relevant
NordGen´s Goals (Extract from the 20-year strategy, page 4-5):
Overreaching goals
a) All decisions are made on a sound scientific base
b) NordGen is known as a high quality gene bank and performs all standard tasks according to NordGen´s
quality assurance system
c) NordGen´s organization and activities are under constant evaluation with the goal to have an efficient
organization suitable for the purpose
Conservation of plant genetic resources
d) NordGen continues to be a broad spectrum gene bank with open access to its material (with broad
spectrum we mean the whole range of Nordic crops and species)
e) NordGen can assure high quality long-term conservation of all accepted accessions (80% of the
accessions are included in AEGIS, A European Gene Bank Integrated System) (NordGen base its gene
bank standards on internationally agreed standards)
f) NordGen conserves material of Nordic origin and Nordic relevance
g) NordGen is conducting seed transfers and information activities at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
efficiently
Facilitating use of plant genetic resources
h) NordGen takes an active part in Nordic pre-breeding efforts
i) The plant material at NordGen is well documented and the information is stored in a well-functioning
public data base
j) All AEGIS accessions should be evaluated for agronomically relevant traits
Cooperation and communication (on both conservation and use issues)
k) NordGen stimulates Nordic cooperation and Nordic involvement in international projects in the area of
plant genetic resources
l) NordGen is highly involved in the Nordic national programs and in international projects
m) NordGen is participating in, and organizing workshops, conferences, seminars when appropriate
n) NordGen is proactive in communication in an efficient way using relevant media (homepage, social
media, study visits etc.)
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Question 1B (tasks)
The tasks performed at NordGen are explained in detail in section three of the 20-year strategy
document and listed below.
i.
In your opinion, what three tasks should have highest priority under the current
circumstances (among 3.1 – 3.11)?
ii.
What three tasks should have the lowest priority?
iii.
Please add comments and/or motivations of the prioritisations wherever relevant
NordGen´s tasks: Extract from the 20-year strategy, contents, page 3
Page in 20-year strategy
3.1 Survey and prioritisation within NordGen’s collection. .................................................. 8
3.2 Incoming material ........................................................................................................... 11
3.3 Quality assurance and AEGIS ........................................................................................ 16
3.4 Collection maintenance (= assuring survival and long-term conservation of
NordGen´s PGR collection) ............................................................................................ 17
3.5 Documentation ................................................................................................................ 25
3.6 Evaluation and characterization ...................................................................................... 27
3.7 Use and distribution of NordGen’s material ................................................................... 28
3.8 Molecular and in vitro laboratory ................................................................................... 30
3.9 Involvement of NordGen in national, Nordic, and international cooperation ................ 31
3.10 NordGen´s Working Groups ........................................................................................ 34
3.11 Communication ............................................................................................................ 35
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2) THE PGR COLLECTION AT NORDGEN
The entire collection at NordGen now comprises over 57.500 accessions of which 26.700 are
ACC, 2.300 PEN, 6.500 TEM and ~22.000 have not been evaluated for viability or how valuable
they could be to the collection. NordGen has large mutant collections; the barley mutants (9202
accessions), the pea mutants (1638 accessions) and other smaller mutant collections. These
mutant collections together constitute 40% of all accessions (ACC and PEN). In addition,
NordGen is responsible for potatoes and potato onions and horse radish on a temporary basis
(see 3.4.5). The collection is aging and in the early years there was not sufficient resources for
the seed laboratory. Thus, over the years a back-log has accumulated for many tasks at the same
time as new donations have been accepted for long-term conservation.
KEY QUESTIONS
Question 2A. The mandate for NordGen is “to conserve material of Nordic origin and
relevance”. The criteria “Nordic origin” is easy to interpret but “Nordic relevance” is more
difficult and has been interpreted in different ways. Please give examples of different types of
Non-Nordic material that, in your opinion, would be highly relevant for Nordic users (breeders,
researcher and others) and would therefore be important for NordGen to conserve.
Question 2B. The distribution between plant groups and biological status of material can be
found in figure 2 and 3 on page 8 (in the 20-year strategy).
· Should the proportion of some plant groups or biological status of material be increased or
reduced?
· A large part of NordGen’s resources are focused on mutant collections? Is this an
appropriate focus?
· Is there material that you think is lacking?
Question 2C. Should NordGen´s collection be allowed to grow? Why/why not?
Question 2D. Let us assume that the collection is too large for the current resources. One
approach would be to decrease the number of already accepted accessions (ACC). This could be
achieved by downgrading from accepted (ACC) to temporary (TEM) status. Note, TEM material
is distributed but no germination monitoring or regeneration are done. Which type of material
can be downgraded and which criteria should be used for selecting accessions for downgrading?
We suggest using the approaches listed below to limit the number of accepted accessions. Please
specify if you agree with these criteria or not.
· The material does not live up to our minimum standards on quality of passport data,
number of viable seeds available, (note, there are accessions with <100 seeds) (our
standards are based on international FAO/ECPGR standards)
· No long-term relevance for the material (changed since the time of acceptance)
· Non-Nordic origin and low Nordic relevance
· Breeding lines (unless of specific importance)
· Lethal mutants (kept as heterozygotes)
· Pooling of material could save resources and at the same time conserve important genetic
resources. Are there circumstances were pooling of material is acceptable? Which type of
material can be pooled (if any)?
· Can you think of other reasons for downgrading an accession?
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Provocative statements on gene bank management.
Below follows statements that can in some cases be viewed as provocative (not necessarily the
view of NordGen staff). Please read through these statements and write down your
thoughts/opinion on these. Do you agree or disagree?
1)
The focus on cereals is too large.
2)
The small collection of ornamentals should be rejected.
3)
All Non-Nordic material of any biological status (CV, W, L, B) will be set as temporary.
4)
More resources will be spent to include material directly relevant for existing Nordic
breeding programs.
5)
During the next five years NordGen will develop a strong focus on collecting Nordic Crop
Wild Relatives.
6)
All material that has been pending for more than twenty years will automatically be set as
rejected or historical.
7)
NordGen will only focus on PGR associated with food security
8)
Incoming material will be selected with future climate change in mind
9)
Accepted material which doesn’t meet our new minimum requirements for incoming
material will be set as temporary.
10) All pending barley mutant collections will be accepted.
11) The barley mutant collection will be set as temporary.
12) The pea mutant collection will be set as temporary.
13) Due to the large back-log a ten year stop on introduction of new accepted accessions will be
introduced.
14) Current non-registered material will not be processed until the back-log is >80 % completed.
15) NordGen’s list for mandate species is too large and it should be trimmed down to only
include the primary gene pools for species relevant for food and agriculture.
16) Resources should not be spent on material that is difficult to multiply, instead this type of
material will be set as temporary.
17) NordGen will not commit any resources for repatriation of Nordic material from other
genebanks during the coming ten years.
18) Donations will be rejected if: documentation is poor and if seed amount and/or quality is
below minimum standards.
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19) NordGen’s policy to obtain material of all new Nordic cultivars is of low importance for
breeders. Instead resources will be spent on wild/landrace material.
20) NordGen’s collection will be allowed to increase with up to 1500 new accessions per year
without added resources (resulting in a doubled collection in 20 years).
21) The second generation test to check viability of stored material for (barley, wheat, oat, and
pea) will be done after 25 years.
22) There is no need to regenerate a viable accessions with few seeds until a user orders it.
23) All old characterization and evaluation data, on old 5 inch floppy disks will take too much
resources to sort out, better to move forward and make new C & E.
24) The lack of pedigree data on cultivars is of low importance
25) For regeneration of accessions there is no need to track parent batch and generation number.
26) In the future efforts should be taken to genotype all accessions from the collection (for
example SNP, DNA sequencing etc.).
27) 2017 will be a year with NO regeneration of self-pollinating species, which will allow
NordGen to work through the back-log in the seed lab (packing and germination tests).
28) Accessions with very low germination percentage (<20) should be rejected.
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3) UTILISATION OF THE PGR CONSERVED AT NORDGEN
In 2015, NordGen distributed almost 10 000 accessions, which is a substantial increase
compared to 2011 when about 4500 accessions were distributed (Figure 12, page 29, 20-year
strategy). Distribution is done for private (hobby), breeding and research, training and other
uses (Figure 11, page. 29, 20-year strategy). Over 50% of the distribution goes to private
(hobby) growers.
One of NordGen´s tasks is to facilitate the use of the plant material and this is done through for
example providing an easy on-line ordering system, publically available information on the
accessions and characterisation and evaluation projects. During recent years NordGen has also
been involved in the Nordic PPP and acts as secretariat and handles the funding from the Nordic
ministries and the payments to the partners. Currently, there are four projects funded “Barley
II”, “NordApp”, “Ryegrass” and 6P (phenotyping). Please go through the following questions
and also try to motivate your answers.
Orders 2010-2015
Hobby
University
Research institute
Breeding company
Museum
Reserach company
Farmer/producer
NGO
Genebank
Breeding Institute
Others
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Proportion of orders
Figure 1: The proportion of orders from different types of users during 2010 - 2015
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Question 3A. In Figure 1 previous page, the proportion of orders from different types of users
can be seen. Do you think that this is an appropriate distribution or should actions be taken to
increase or decrease the use by some user groups?
Question 3B.
First a short explanation of “user gene bank”. NordGen’s mandate is conservation and
utilization. Utilization of many accession is often limited due to the low seed amount that several
species ends up with after a regeneration. However, the low amount is still enough for accurate
conservation. With a “user gene bank”, as an intermediate actor between NordGen and clients,
this gap of demand can be satisfied.
In May there will be a workshop on “user gene banks” in the Nordic region.
i.
Would the creation of a Nordic or national “user gene banks” with the responsibility for a
specified PGR assortment be a good idea?
ii.
What should be the tasks of a “user gene bank”?
iii.
Are there other questions that are important to address at the workshop?
Question 3C. There are many of you in the discussion groups who have used material from
NordGen and NGB in the past. We would therefore like to ask you
i.
What would make you increase your use of PGR from NordGen?
ii.
What is the main reason that you do not use more PGR in your breeding / research /other
activities?
iii.
What do you think would be the most important action NordGen could do to
increase/enhance the use of the PGR collection?
iv.
Is there material that you think is missing from NordGen´s collection? Please specify how
this material could be used.
Question 3D. The purpose of the Nordic PPP is to support development of Nordic plant breeding
for long-term needs. Focus should be on adaptation to climate change, meeting environment
goals and demands from consumers & market. To gain funding from PPP, the breeding project
should aim at any of the following conditions: base broadening of Nordic crops, introduction of
specific traits in adapted germplasm or development of efficient tools & methods.
i.
How should the Nordic PPP for pre-breeding be developed in the future?
ii.
What efforts can NordGen make to promote Nordic pre-breeding projects within and
outside the frame of the Nordic PPP?
Question 3E. There are ongoing discussions about the establishment of a Nordic Centre of
Excellence with the aim to promote and improve breeding and pre-breeding in the Nordic region.
i.
What would be your expectations of such a centre?
ii.
Which organisations should be involved?
iii.
What should be the focus?
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Question 3F. Micro-breeders. Currently NordGen has little contact with Nordic micro-breeders.
Is there a need to initiate contact and build up a network for Nordic micro-breeders? And, if yes,
in what way(s) can NordGen have a positive impact for micro-breeders?
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4) NORDGEN AND THE NATIONAL PROGRAMS (NPS) AND THE WORKING
GROUPS (WGS)
Question 4A – 4E on the interaction between the NPs and NordGen
The national programs (NPs) and equivalent structures in the Nordic countries were established
to fulfil the national obligations of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Global plan of
action. In 2012 the document "Responsibilities and tasks of NordGen and the Nordic national
programs for plant genetic resources" was finalized by NordGen and the NPs. This lead to a
"Memorandum of Understanding" signed by most Nordic countries.
4A. How could the interaction between NordGen and the NPs be increased and/or improved?
4B. Is there a way that the NPs could facilitate the work at NordGen, in addition to what is
currently done (within the current budget)?
4C. Is there a way that NordGen could facilitate work in the NPs, in addition to what is currently
done (within the current budget)?
4D. Is there a need to update the “Responsibilities and tasks of NordGen and the Nordic national
programs for plant genetic resources” document? If yes, which parts of the documents need to
be re-addressed?
4E. There will be a Nordic meeting in September 2016 about in situ conservation of crop wild
relatives and the role of NordGen and NPs in this context. Do you have some issues/opinions you
think are important to address during that meeting?
Question 4F – 4H on interaction between the WGs and NordGen
The working groups at NordGen are, together with the national programs, the most important
part of NordGen´s Nordic network. Each working group (WG) consists of experts from breeding
companies, universities, research institutes, NGOs etc. from the Nordic countries. Currently
there are five active working groups (see Table 2, pg. 34). Each working group has a small
budget that can be used for activities, currently 100 000 SEK per working group.
4F. How can the interaction between NordGen and the WGs be improved/increased?
4G. Is there a way that the WGs could facilitate the work at NordGen, in addition to what is
currently done?
4H. How could the work in the working groups be improved?
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